Abandon it, but spend money on it

According to a Reuters story in Yahoo! News, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has sent a letter to NASA advising that failing to spend the $291 million budgeted in 2005 for a repair mission to Hubble could be against the law. The Bush Administration’s proposed 2006 budget only allots “$93 million for the Hubble program, with $75 million of that set aside to bring the orbiting observatory safely to Earth.”

Meanwhile, some rather spectacular shots — unfortunately in low resolution — taken by Hubble are included in this slide show; it’s a taste of what we stand to lose.